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2015-11-08

This Week's Prayer

“Earth mother, star mother, you who are called by a thousand names: May all remember we are cells in your body and dance together. You are the grain and the loaf that sustains us each day, and as you are patient with our struggles to learn so shall we be patient with ourselves and each other. We are radiant light and sacred dark -- the balance. You are the embrace that heartens and the freedom beyond fear. Within you we are born, we grow, live, and die. You bring us around the circle to rebirth. Within us you dance forever.” (Starhawk, SLT #524)

Our hearts are heavy with the things happening in our world, your Earth. War and persecution have displaced nearly 60 million people from their homes – more than at any time since World War II.

A militant group affiliated with ISIS in Egypt claims responsibility for the downing of a Russian passenger plane. Here in our own country, Islamophobia darkens the land, evidenced by graffiti this week at Virginia Tech by someone threatening to “kill all Muslims.”

On Mon Oct 26, a 7.5 earthquake in Afghanistan killed more than 260. Relief efforts are hampered by the fighting in the region. On Sat Nov 7, a 6.8 earthquake struck Chile, an aftershock of the 8.3 quake on Sep 16.

The endangered saiga antelope of Central Asia are mysteriously and rapidly dying off. More than half the species has died in recent months, perhaps because climate change transformed harmless bacteria into lethal pathogens. The saigas could be extinct within a year.

We are hopeful that this week’s nixing of the keystone pipeline is truly a victory for the environment, as many claim. May it be so.

“We are radiant light and sacred dark;” cells in the body of creation -- creation that brought us into being and lives on after us. We know, too, that kindness persists, that everywhere there are hearts that shine with love, voices that cry for justice, hands that care for life, minds that envision new ways, spirits committed to possibilities of connection and mutuality. May our own hearts, voices, hands, minds, and spirits be among them, growing ever stronger.

1. Openness to New Truth. "Religious liberalism depends first on the principle that revelation is continuous. Meaning has not been finally captured. Nothing is complete, and thus nothing is exempt from criticism." Our religious tradition is a living tradition because we are always learning.

2. Freedom. "All relations between persons ought ideally to rest on mutual, free consent and not on coercion." We freely choose congregational relationship and spiritual practice. We deny infallibility and resist hierarchical authority.

3. Justice. We are morally obligated to direct our "effort toward the establishment of a just and loving community. It is this which makes the role of the prophet central and indispensable in liberalism."

4. Institution Building. Religious liberals "deny the immaculate conception of virtue and affirm the necessity of social incarnation....Justice is an exercise of just and lawful institutional power." Institution building involves the messiness of claiming our power amid conflicting perspectives and needs, rather than the purity of ahistorical, decontextualized ideals.

5. Hope. "The resources (divine and human) that are available for the achievement of meaningful change justify an attitude of ultimate optimism."(For Adams's full text, see HERE. For Liberal Faith, see HERE.)